Operational update
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On Tuesday a team assessed the situation in Gorkha District Hospital, which has suffered damage from the earthquake. The in-patient department is destroyed. On Wednesday a truck carrying a rapid surgical intervention kit left Kathmandu for Ghorka (200km north-east) as the road has been re-opened. The surgical team is on their way to Ghorka to set up and begin responding to surgical needs from the area surrounding Ghorka.
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On Tuesday a team assessed the Tudikhel makeshift camp in the centre of Kathmandu. The water and sanitation situation is concerning, with people having limited access to clean drinking water and the public toilets overflowing. In terms of medical needs at this camp, currently a team of doctors from Bir hospital (located opposite the camp) have set up a makeshift consultation area and are managing primary health care needs. Many of the people in the camp are from in and around Kathmandu, but there are also a number of migrant workers who can no longer stay in the temporary accommodation they normally stay in in the city. As well there are others in the camp who have come from outside Kathmandu after their villages were destroyed in the earthquake. MSF is looking into the water and sanitation situation in the camp urgently.
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On Tuesday a team assessed the needs and capacity in 4 hospitals in Kathmandu, with a focus on trauma and nephrology departments (to understand the capacity to deal with 'crush syndrome'. Generally these hospitals are overstretched after dealing with influxes of wounded following the earthquake, but also trying to continue to deal with regular patients with chronic illnesses etc. Kathmandu Teaching Hospital has been receiving an increased number of patients requiring dialysis - mostly chronic rather than people with crush syndrome - coming from other hospitals. There are currently 200 patients on their list needing dialysis and they're utilising 8 machines to meet the demand. MSF made a donation of wound-dressing kits to two hospitals and is looking into options for supporting specific hospitals in Kathmandu according to the need.
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On Tuesday a team returned to a makeshift camp in Bhaktapur (40km east of Kathmandu), where more than 1500 people are staying. They are facing a difficult situation in terms of water and sanitation, with people collecting rain water and lacking latrines. They have yet to receive assistance and have either lost their homes in the earthquake or are too scared to move back to their homes in case of aftershocks. MSF is looking into the water and sanitation situation in the camp urgently. The team also donated dressing and first aid materials to the hospital in Bhaktapur.
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On Tuesday a surgical team arrived in Kathmandu and will be deployed as soon as possible with a field hospital, which is due to arrive in Kathmandu.
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MSF currently has 61 staff members in Nepal